I really cannot bring myself to part from you for a
long holiday period in this way without saying something. Thank you? ‒ Now, I will not be so
silly as to try to do justice with a few feeble words to all that I have had the fortune to
receive from you artistically. However, I hope you will permit me to say to you, instead of platitudes, just a little about the
change in mind and spirit, which, on a foundation of artistic mediation, my personal
association with you has wrought in me overall.

That it is possible to acquire composure, calmness of the nerves, in
relation to life and art, without having to pay the price of {2} coming to the
end of one's life, and so still to be able to use a tiny part of this most delicious of
bounties for the small amount that is left of one's life, this I did not know ‒ put better,
[I did not know] that it was possible for
my state of mind. And although I know full well how far
I still have to go along this path, and that I have taken only a few very small, timid
steps, even so, I can already say with firmest conviction: During this past year, I have
become a different person. Coming from a life full of constant anxiety, full of feverish
unrest even down to the smallest things, I am still far from achieving a life of peace and
calm, of spiritual tranquillity, which I envision as my goal. The time has been too short
for that. However, it is not necessary to give up hope of a life of confidence, as it could
one day be, so long as there is someone to whom the power is granted to help us toward that
goal.

{3} And if ever I needed confirmation that man can never be
separated from artist, art from life, no more beautiful confirmation could be given me than
the precious experience [that I had] when I came
to you, honored Master, in need of pianistic-technical help, in order to face the world and
life after one short academic year as a mentally and
also physically healthier person. I do not know whether
anyone has been able to absorb the sense and inner meaning of Schenkerian
"synthesis" as quickly as I have into my own body and being: that a
correct fingering, a correct hand position must ultimately entail a correct attitude toward the world.
Revered Professor, I have marked well your saying "Mansions can be built between two
sixteenth-notes," and it has already been of much use to me, even outside of the realm of
sixteenth-notes. But that such an impact belongs incomparably and unassailably to you, {4}Hans Weisse,2 who was around you for so long, must surely have
known best. Were he to suspect that what he tried by that means to draw out of me, what I myself needed, with
my insecurity in relation to life, my eternal struggle for human balance, it would mean,
even for him, a great inner progress.

I offer you my admiring thanks for the endless patience and kindness that
you show me. I have truly no deeper, more heartfelt wish than to be granted the good fortune
of being allowed to work with you for a very long time further, so that one day I might
realize in full your cautionary saying "Health is playing well."

Once more, a very happy holiday, revered Professor, to your dear wife,3 and

I really cannot bring myself to part from you for a
long holiday period in this way without saying something. Thank you? ‒ Now, I will not be so
silly as to try to do justice with a few feeble words to all that I have had the fortune to
receive from you artistically. However, I hope you will permit me to say to you, instead of platitudes, just a little about the
change in mind and spirit, which, on a foundation of artistic mediation, my personal
association with you has wrought in me overall.

That it is possible to acquire composure, calmness of the nerves, in
relation to life and art, without having to pay the price of {2} coming to the
end of one's life, and so still to be able to use a tiny part of this most delicious of
bounties for the small amount that is left of one's life, this I did not know ‒ put better,
[I did not know] that it was possible for
my state of mind. And although I know full well how far
I still have to go along this path, and that I have taken only a few very small, timid
steps, even so, I can already say with firmest conviction: During this past year, I have
become a different person. Coming from a life full of constant anxiety, full of feverish
unrest even down to the smallest things, I am still far from achieving a life of peace and
calm, of spiritual tranquillity, which I envision as my goal. The time has been too short
for that. However, it is not necessary to give up hope of a life of confidence, as it could
one day be, so long as there is someone to whom the power is granted to help us toward that
goal.

{3} And if ever I needed confirmation that man can never be
separated from artist, art from life, no more beautiful confirmation could be given me than
the precious experience [that I had] when I came
to you, honored Master, in need of pianistic-technical help, in order to face the world and
life after one short academic year as a mentally and
also physically healthier person. I do not know whether
anyone has been able to absorb the sense and inner meaning of Schenkerian
"synthesis" as quickly as I have into my own body and being: that a
correct fingering, a correct hand position must ultimately entail a correct attitude toward the world.
Revered Professor, I have marked well your saying "Mansions can be built between two
sixteenth-notes," and it has already been of much use to me, even outside of the realm of
sixteenth-notes. But that such an impact belongs incomparably and unassailably to you, {4}Hans Weisse,2 who was around you for so long, must surely have
known best. Were he to suspect that what he tried by that means to draw out of me, what I myself needed, with
my insecurity in relation to life, my eternal struggle for human balance, it would mean,
even for him, a great inner progress.

I offer you my admiring thanks for the endless patience and kindness that
you show me. I have truly no deeper, more heartfelt wish than to be granted the good fortune
of being allowed to work with you for a very long time further, so that one day I might
realize in full your cautionary saying "Health is playing well."

Once more, a very happy holiday, revered Professor, to your dear wife,3 and

Heirs and representatives of Maria Komorn; deemed to be in the public domain

License

All reasonable efforts have been made to trace the heirs or representatives of Maria Komorn. The document is deemed to be in the public domain. Any claim to intellectual rights on this document should be addressed to Schenker Documents Online, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, at schenkercorrespondence[at]mus(dot)cam(dot)ac(dot)uk